The Squirrel

Red-tailed keeper of the in-between,

you move along branches and walls alike,

small body taut with alertness,

hands quick with intent.

You are neither idle nor frantic,

but a gatherer,

the one who prepares

while others dismiss the season.

Your pauses are not hesitation,

but calculation,

reminding us that survival

often looks like play

to the unwatchful eye.

Veveriță, you are not afraid of scarcity.

You feel winter long before it comes,

you hide what you need,

you forget some of it,

and still the forest is fed,

still life continues.

In your gathering,

there is foresight without hoarding.

In your forgetting,

there is the promise

that provision exceeds intention,

that abundance circulates,

that even what is misplaced

has its place.